Southwood Easter Egg Hunt

This morning our church had an outreach Easter Egg hunt for the kids of our church and the community from ages 0-10 years old. I took the kids to our church property site where the egg hunt was to take place at 10:30am. (Our church meets in a Christian school right now, we had the Easter egg hunt on our church property, where one day we plan to build our church (community center) one day.)

Luke was not too sure what was going on, but once we got to the Easter egg hunt he was pumped and ready to do something, I just don't think he was sure what. He ran around with his friend Jacob until it was time to line up to find all the eggs in the field.

Luke just couldn't wait behind the line with all the other kids. He did a pretty good job but he just wanted to run around. It was very cute. Finally the kids were all let loose to find small chocolate eggs, solid easter bunnies and other small chocolate bunnies in the field. Luke just walked around and then decided to put a few eggs into his Pooh Bear bag. Allison was walking around watching all the action. She did pick up a few eggs and put them in Luke's bag.

It was a very cold day for the Easter Egg hunt and I should have dressed the kids in warmer clothes. By the end they were both crying due to being so cold. Oh, you will notice that all the pictures of Luke he is wearing his sunglasses, he refused to take them off, even though it was not sunny out at all. He was so funny....he was the only kid there in sunglasses. My cool son!


Allison watching all the action of the Easter Egg hunt.

Allison found a solid Easter egg bunny in the hunt. This is a weird looking bunny Mommy!

Luke waiting to go in the car to the Easter Egg hunt. Come on Mommy let's go. Daddy didn't come as he had to go the library to research for a school paper.

Where's Waldo? I mean where is Luke in the mass of children waiting to to find some eggs?

Here I am Mommy! You found me in the line up!

Luke is having a hard time waiting behind the line with all the other children. Here he is over the line wanting to get out to the Easter eggs first. I had to keep telling Luke to ge behind the line so it was fair for all the other kids. He listened...sometimes.

I had just asked Luke what he had in his hand and then I took the picture. Luke's response was "It is an egg Mommy Look!"

Just for you Mom!

I am putting these pictures up just for my Mom....to drive her crazy and to make her laugh. This is my house this afternoon as the kids sleep. All our stuff piled on our bed so I can vacuum our bedroom and our kitchen in full action with left over lunch dishes and the kids laundry off the side that I still need to fold.

Oh course my Mom would say...."Why are you on the computer Blogging when you have so much house work to do?" My response....."Just to bug you Mom!"

My Mom is a fairly tidy person....it is in her family blood pool. Other family members on her side of the family are the same. Even some in my generation...it has been passed on. I think I received half of the blood pool from my Mom's side of the family. I like things tidy but not too messy.



The spot shot is out as I we are trying to potty train Luke and he has had a few accidents today on the carpet and on the rocking chair. Just in case you were wondering how Spot Shot fits in the mix with our lunch dishes. I always have to be armed with Spot Shot when Luke is wearing big boy pants.


Here are some of the differences between my Mom and I:

I can go to sleep with dirty dishes in my sink; Mom can't
I can go 1 week not vacuuming the entire house; Mom can't
I can put whites and darks together in the wash; Mom can't
I can go weeks without dusting; Mom can too
I like to air dry my dishes once they are washed; Mom can't
I can go many seasons without vacuuming out our cars; Mom can't
I have a hard remembering to clean out the microwave; Mom remembers all the time
I rarely wash my windows in the house; Mom comes over to help me

OK you get the point! I am neat but not always clean. My Mom has taught me well and she has rubbed off on me to an extent. Mom, I hope you like our pictures of our lived in house for today. Enjoy and feel free to post them on your fridge if you like. HA HA! I know how much this bugs you! Oh by the way Mom "I love you!" Be encouraged Mom you did a great job raising us kids. We are messy a lot of the time and we are yours! You have just got to love all 3 of us kids!

The NEW bed

This is just a cute picture of Luke taking a nap yesterday in his big boy bed. I just found it so funny that he was sleeping in the middle of the bed. Oh, by the way he now has naps every day now. I love it!

Sweet Dreams.....

Allison! Allison is having her first nap in her toddler bed this afternoon. We placed the toddler bed at the end of Allison's crib so there is not too many sudden changes for her.
We are starting to let Allison have her naps in her toddler bed and then at night she can sleep in her crib. Then we will eventually put her in the toddler bed and take down her crib.





Allison sleeping with her favorite bear and lamby and her blankie beside her.

Luke's new bed

Here is Allison is Luke's toddler bed before we took it out of his room.

Luke and his new bed.

Luke and Allison sitting together painting away at their little craft table in the kitchen.

Luke got a new big boy bed this past weekend. He was sleeping in a toddler bed and he was just getting too big for it. He is so thrilled with his twin bed.
Almost every day he will go to Bruce and say "Daddy....Luke has a new bed!". Bruce is so good with him and says "Really Luke...show Daddy your big boy bed". Luke is thrilled every time showing Daddy and Mommy his new bed.
Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Gailitis Luke has NHL sheets and comforter on his bed to match his Toronto Maple Leaf theme in his bedroom. We finally get to use them! When Bruce and I were engaged and we made up our wedding registry, Bruce decided to put twin NHL sheets/comforter on our wedding registry at Sears and sure enough we got them from his parents. So Bruce has been waiting for the day that his son could sleep in the NHL sheets. He is so proud!

Warm weather

The past 2 days here in Windsor have been OUTSTANDING to say the least. On Monday it was 80degrees or so and yesterday we were in the mid - high 70's. How great was that? I was wearing my shorts and the kids were playing outside. Today is quite a bit cooler but I can live with that seeing that it is still March.

This past Monday night Luke had a high fever of 102 degrees and said his teeth hurt. As Bruce and I investigated into it a bit more we made the conclusion Luke had a bad sore throat. Luke kept putting his fingers in the back of his mouth saying it hurt back there. We gave him some Tylenol and he slept trough the night. On Tuesday morning I took him to the doctor and sure enough he has strep throat. His fever was still high all day Tuesday. So he is now on antibiotics for the next 7-8 days and his fever seems to be OK today. I just hope Allison doesn't get it! Luke and Allison decided to share sippy cups on Monday before we knew that Luke was sick.

Here I am

OK, I am sure a few of you have been wondering where I am? Well I have been here at home with the kids, having typical days with my family. I wake up eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and wait for my hubby to come home from work each night. The kids will stand at the bay window just waiting for Daddy to come home each night.

Nothing has been really going on .....or worth blogging about.

Until now.....

I just signed up on FACEBOOK this past week and I am lovin' it. So that could be part of the reason I have been neglecting my BLOG page the past little while. You have to sign up for this...it is AMAZING!

I have found so many people on Facebook that I went to high school/college with and I have found teens that I used to be their youth leader. Where does time go....they are all growing up so fast.
The one thing that has shocked me with Facebook is how open people are with their lives on the Internet. It kind of scares me. Now, yes I am sitting here on my couch writing on a my blog page my thoughts, but what I mean is that these people are so open to share the good, the bad and the ugly in their lives for all to see.
I have to admit some of the people I have been reconnected with really disappointed me with what I read and saw (you can post pictures on you facebook page), at some points it brought me to tears to see where suppose christian teens/people, from christian families are at in their christian walks. Why are people so free to share all their drinking stories and not be embarrassed to tell them, or show pictures of themselves that are too revealing, or swear freely on their facebook page?

Why are more people not posting about Christ on our BLOG pages/Facebook page/My Space page etc? Now don't get me wrong I know a lot of fellow believers are posting about their personal relationship with Christ and I find that encouraging. We have an amazing tool called the Internet to reach others for Christ and to have some fun and entertain with, ie:email, BLOG pages, web sites etc.
So why on earth do some fellow believers feel the need to put up personal information about sin in their lives that they know is contrary to what the Bible teaches?
We are all created by God to glorify God. That is the reason God made me and YOU! It seems that we far too easily forget that Christ is living in us. We are in the world but we are not to be part of the world. It is OK to be different and not to conform to the world. Dare to be different for Christ!

Now please remember I love Facebook and I have totally enjoyed catching up with people from so long ago. Please remember I am 31 years old, I think to some of the younger generation I am considered old. I just have found it a real struggle to see where people are at in their lives and where they could be in their walks with the Lord.
So you ask "Why did you take all this space on your BLOG page to write about this?" Let me tell you.........to pray for those around you! Prayer is a mighty gift/tool from the Lord.... and Facebook has really caused me to pray over the past few days for people by name.
Please remember to pray for those you know and love that are struggling in their walks with the Lord. The Lord is Gracious, Loving, Forgiving, All knowing, Merciful, Just, Holy, Without any Sin, Omnipresent, Patient, Always listening, Three in One, In control, ans so much more!
Prayer is powerful and God is at work today in 2007!

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Naps

I think the time has come for Luke that he no longer has naps
on a regular basis. I place him to bed for his nap and he
plays the entire time or listens to his Bible stories on CD we have for him. This all happened right after he turned age 3. The week before he was 3 he was sleeping for 3 hours at a time in the afternoon. Then the week after his 3rd birthday he would not take a nap. He has slept two afternoons since he turned 3. I even took him and Allison outside this morning for 1.5 hours to try and poop him out, but it didn't work He is laying in bed like a good boy wide awake talking away....just waiting for me to tell him it is time to get up.

Gone are the free afternoons with two children sound asleep in their beds. What am I to do? I have never had this before? My little boy is growing up~

A deep thought for the day

I just finished cleaning our main bathroom (this is not a picture of our bathroom by the way, I found this one on the Internet). As I was cleaning our bathroom I found it funny that we go the bathroom to get clean. An example would be you have a shower....to get clean, you wash your hands before a meal....to get clean......you brush your teeth....to get clean teeth, you wash your face in the sink....to get clean and so on.

So my deep thought while cleaning the bathroom was "Why am I cleaning the bathroom.... if this is suppose to be where I get clean?". Some how this room seems to be one of the dirtiest rooms in the house and sometime the smelliest yet we walk out feeling better and clean and fresh.

As I was hanging over the tub this afternoon and I see all the soap scum on the side of the tub I all of a sudden thought... "I don't feel so clean right now". How does soap clean us yet mark the tub? How does toothpaste clean our teeth yet end up hardened on our drain in the sink sitting there for days and not moving? How does my husbands whiskers end up in the soap dish? How do dust bunnies collect around the base of my toilet? Why doesn't the water in the toilet bowl clean the toilet for me? How does the garbage pail get so full in 2 days? How does the toilet paper roll leave such a lint on top of all the magazines beside the toilet? How does water end up on the floor? How come the floor looks like someone is coming or going with all the dust/dirt/hair on it? How does my soap pump always manage to leave a drop of soap on my sink?

I just find it ironic that we go into the bathroom/washroom/can/laboratory/restroom/The throne room/The thinking room/The Lou/The Potty room (as Luke would call it) to clean ourselves. So the question I have is "Why do I have to clean this room once a week?" I thought it is a room to get cleaned in, not for me to clean~

Blessings of Life

Well this past Tuesday I turned 31 years old. I remember when I was a teenager and I thought 31 was very old and I would never be that old. However the day has come and gone and I have now entered my 32nd year of life. Some people would grumble about turning a year older but I want to thank the Lord for yet another year of life. There are so many people that never see their 31st year of life. Life is a true blessing and is from the Lord. The Lord gives us life so we should be thankful for that and serve him every day with joy!

A lot of people ask what is the pupose of life? It seems like a deep question and many do not have an answer to give. The purpose of life is to glorify God. We are called to love and serve the Lord with all of our being. This is not an option for us who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus......I ask you what IS YOUR purpose in life?

31 years of life is the BEST! The Lord has been so good to me through all these years.

Here is a list of blessings in my life:

~I have a personal relationship with Christ
~I married the man of my dreams
~I have 2 wonderful children whom I love very much
~I have my health
~I have a roof over my head
~Bruce has a job
~we have a great church
~I have godly friends that love and encourage me
~My parents are close by and have their health
~My brother Matthew
~ My sister Katherine and my brother in law Jon
~I was raised in a Godly Christian home
~My in-laws ROCK!
~I love my job! Yes, believe it or not I love selling insurance!
~warm smiles from the kids each morning
~waking up to my husband each morning
~phone calls from old friends
~our women's Bible study at church every Wednesday morning
~my in-laws cottage we can go to each summer
~my parents buying a place in Florida so we have somewhere to visit when we go to Florida
~I am so thankful for my Dad working for the airlines when I was younger and all the cheap travel I did. I got to go all over the place. Thanks Mom and Dad.
~My mother-in -law for always be so thoughtful to our family in so many ways, she is the true definition of a godly woman
~My father-in-law for always making me laugh, and making me appreicate things around me
~My Mom for teaching me to be woman of God
~My Dad for providing for me as a child
~The Lord Jesus Christ for sending his only Son to die on the cross for my sins
~knowing I will spend eternity with Christ in Heaven

What are you blessed with today? Maybe you are older then me or maybe you are younger. Consider/Remember what you have been blessed with today and give all the glory to God.
Happy 31st birthday to me!

Luke's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Luke's birthday party this past Saturday from 11am to 1pm with eight of his friends. They has a good time playing together. We had some of the neighbour kids over and some of Luke's friends from church. Luke was so excited when everyone came over he was running all over the house laughing and being extremely hyper. It was so much fun to watch his excitment.
Here is a picture of Luke eating his cake. Nice blue lips Luke! Luke ate 2 pieces of pizza and 1 piece of cake. He was really hungry I guess?

Oh, do you see the blow horn on the table? We gave each child a blow horn and our kitchen sounded like a flock of geese passing through. It was a total hoot! (no pun intended) Some of the kids weren't to sure what to blow into to get the noise, so some of them blew the horns and others were trying to blow their party hats. It was so funny to watch. Kids are so much fun!

This is Luke just after he blew out his candle. It took him a few blows to blow out his candle. It was very exciting to Luke when the flame disappeared on his candle. Luke was cheering and saying Happy birthday Lukey! (Luke calls himslef Lukey instead of Luke, it is very cute, I trust he will grow out of it by the time he is 16). Blow Luke Blow, you can blow the candle out! Blowing out a candle is hard work for a 3 year old with eight of his friends onlooking. Way to go bud, you are doing a great job.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Last night we took Luke to Chuckie Cheese for his 3rd birthday. My parents joined us for this fun filled evening. Luke and Allison had a great time running around and riding all the toys they could.

We ordered dinner from Chuckie Cheese and while we waited for our meal to arrive at our table we let Allison and Luke let loose with all the other kids. We used our tokens we had left over from Luke's birhtday last year to ride the cars and play various toys that required tokens. We waited a very long time for dinner and nothing had arrived to our table. I went and talked to the staff and our order got lost in the kitchen. They had not even started making our dinner when we ordered over an hour ago! To make a long story short, the staff let us have our meal for free (over $50.00 in value) and they added a dessert! WOW! God is good! We were so thankful for the free meal. Here is Allison enjoying the kiddie slide in the toddler area. She loved it and her hair stood straight up the entire time she was on the slide due to static.
Here is the Birthday Boy with his crown and balloon form Chrukie Cheese. Luke is the BIG "3"!
Luke playing a kids version video game.He loved it!

Allison in a car with a boy! Have mercy and let me at him! He even has his arm around her! Ahhhhhh no dating until age 21 Allison!

Disney on Ice

Last night we went to Disney on Ice with some of Bruce's co-workers in Michigan at the Palace of Aubrun Hills arena. Bruce was there to entertain some potential cleints (who brought their families with them as well) We watched the show from a suite. I have never experienced the high life before, but man was it a treat. Bruce told me not to get use to it!

There was a room to sit in with a TV, fridge and lots of food and then you walk through a sliding glass door into the arena to bar style chairs where you can eat your dinner. Then your seats to watch the show were just below the table were you can eat.

Luke loved sitting on his bar stool eating his chicken fingers and raw broccoli and watching all the lights and action prior to the ice show. When he first walked out the sliding doors into the arena all Luke could say was "WOW Mommy...look at that" he probably said this about 10-15 times. Allison was super as well. She walked around the suite opening all the cupboards and eating some food off the floor. We really had to keep an eye on her with what went in her mouth. Allison always seemed to go for the popcorn on the floor! Fun times!

Allison and Luke were super sitting through the first 1/4 of the ice show. Allison was pretty funny, she would laugh at various parts of the ice show and then when some major characters came on the ice she would start to cry. The rest of the ice show Luke wondered around the suite and enjoyed spending time with the other kids and eating popcorn.

Our suite was in the middle of the arena so we were surrounded by the crowds and we had a gate that opened into the aisle stairs for the general public. Well, Luke decided he wanted to venture up these stairs all by himself. So he is walking almost above my head on the stairs saying Hi Mommy! My heart went into slight panic mode and I cammanded Luke to come down back into our suite area. He claimed he was stuck and didn't know how to get back in. I very quickly pulled him over the bars back into our area. Welcome to the mind of a 3 year old boy who wants to see how everything works.

Oh by the way today Luke is 3 years old! Happy Birthday Luke! We are taking Luke to Chucky Cheese tonight for dinner. He is so excitied to go. We still have tokens left over from last year. Call us cheap yet practical!